Whangerei, New Zealand    November 2015

We've come down the coast to Whangerei which is 14 miles up a river.   We decided to make Riverside Drive Marina our base while we were in NZ.   It's a bit funky,  but that's the way we like it. Its a small place, with about 30 slips and a hardstand.     There's people here who have been here a long time, 10 years, as well as cruisers who have come back year after year.   Its a friendly group with a Sunday BBQ every week.   Up the river just a bit more is Whangerei Marina in Town Basin; they have the advantage of being right in town, so for local stuff you pretty much don't need a car.   We bought a car anyway so we could travel around New Zealand.  

Nearing our marina, you pass under a bascule bridge

Jenny from "Lady" (standing) organized a nice THanksgiving dinner at Reva's restaurant in Whangerei.

 This is the Sunday crowd for the weekly BBQ.  The marina keeps up this nice shelter with a gas BBQ for the cruiser's use.

 Friend, Walt and Jane, came to New Zealand for a month of touring sans Callisto.    They stopped in Whangerei for a visit and we had dinner at the tavern over the water in Parua Bay, a short ride from Whangerei.   DO you think Jim enjoyed his meat pie?   Indeed he did.

 We had a nice New Year's Eve dinner with the RDM crowd.

Opua, New Zealand    November 2015

We finally made the dreaded crossing from Fiji to New Zealand in late October.   "Dreaded" was a label derived from my impression of how awful this crossing could be.    Indeed, it has had some bad press, but with monitoring weather progression from Australia, a sailor can make a reasonable crossing with, hopefully, minimal bad stuff.     Leaving Fiji, we had a great sail from the marina to the Navula passage that would get us out to open water.    The predominant SE winds make the first 8 hours or so at sea a bit rolly with 6 ft seas off the beam.    You know you've been in the marina for too long when stuff starts flying around the cabin that you forgot to put away or cinch down for the voyage.    Fortunately we didn't break anything and got the cabin squared away for the rest of the trip.

It took us almost 10 days to finally arrive in Opua where we joined with the ICA All Points Rally for a week or so of festivities, seminars and socializing with new friends.    We don't really like most rallies, but this was basically a "welcoming" rally to encourage cruisers to consider coming to New Zealand for the cyclone season, and promoting Opua as a cruiser haven with entry formalities,  a marina, plenty of stores and workshops to help cruisers with parts and repairs and topping that off with just being in the Bay of Islands, one of the prettiest and interesting cruising grounds in New Zealand.

The dinghy dock was crowded with folks coming and going from their boats at anchor near Opua.   The Opua Cruising Club was especially welcoming to cruisers and had good food at reasonable prices.

 We ran into cruisers Tom and Fran from "Dagon" who we had run across from time to time in Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines.    They just finished their cruising life and are readying Dagon for sale now.

 There are many Agricultural fairs that take place around New Zealand.    We took a day off to go out to one.   I think we'll be seeing a lot of these guys as we travel around.

This is one of the beautiful, century old missions found out in the countryside in Northland.

The owners of Cater Marine were especially helpful and welcoming to cruisers with a sausage sizzle event and a bacon and egg sandwich breakfast.   They give you a good discount on supplies and can order just about anything you need.

 New Zealand has a growing wine industry and you can have a lot of fun trying out the varietals in the cellar tasting rooms.   This was at Omata Winery near Russell, just a $1 ferry ride from Opua.

 Oyster farming is a big business in New Zealand, too.   These guys pull in often in Opua to offload their "catch".

 The Stone Store near Kerikeri is a pretty tourist attraction now with a garden behind it.

The Princess of the Sea party closed out the formal rally events.    Some of the cruisers really got into the spirit.   Here's the Dutch crowd as mermaids.

I had to do a lot of cajoling just to get Jim to wear the stupid tiara.    I'm not sure myself what I went as, a conglomeration of a shark hat, whacky sunglasses and a kaftan from the Middle East.

Vuda Point Marina, Fiji   2015

We thought we would only be gone for a few months in order for Jim to get some more reconstruction surgery done but it was a full year before we returned to our Kelaerin in Fiji.    In the meantime Jim went through 3 more surgeries, our daughter moved out of the house in Tucson and we decided to sell it in order to free ourselves up for what we think is the final phase of cruising for us.

Leaving a boat behind for a year is generally not a good thing.   When you get back you have to fix just about everything.   Our refrigeration went out while in the Solomons, we replaced the compressor in Fiji and it worked, but when we returned a year later we discovered we had a leak in the system which turned out to be in the evaporator plate.   Our hull paint job had faded out and we got an excellent quote this time from a new outfit operating in Vuda Point Marina called Yuve.   In just a few weeks we had Kelaerin spiffed up quite a lot.   Here's a picture of Jim taking a picture reflected off the new paint job.

One of the things we noticed when we hauled in September of 2014 was that all, and I mean ALL of our rudder bolts were sheared off at the head.    We're pretty sure the stainless bolts we purchased (we could not get bronze) in Subic Bay were of inferior Chinese stainless and that we inadvertantly knocked off the heads when we were scraping the bottom of marine growth that had accumulated in Palau while we were back in the states for a year.   Issue has since been resolved with bronze bolts installed this year.  

Because of all the work we had to do, we spent the 7 weeks we were in Fiji this year all in the marina either on the hardstand or in the water so we didn't get to cruise around Fiji.   But life in the Marina was not so bad.    There was a lot of friendly get togethers, especially at the Sunset Bar on the point.  Friends, Walt and Jane of Callisto were still there.   On Wednesday afternoons the chef gave cooking lessons and taste tests of local food.    There's a million ways to prepare taro and taro leaves and nearly all recipes involve coconut creme.

One of the restaurant's events was Octoberfest and our favorite waiters and waitresses dressed up in costume.  

The staff was always friendly.   Here's Maria and Nikki who couldn't have been more helpful.

We hired a day worker, Masi, who did most of the prepping of the exterior wood for me so I could varnish.

Mary used to work at the marina store but she moved out on her own with a little stand by the bus stop selling sandwiches, cold pressed juices and a few fresh veggies.

THe only downside of being in the marina were the crowded conditions along the wall.   The platforms that extended out to the boats were fixed so they didn't adjust with the tide.    You could be looking at a pretty good climb to get off your boat or an abseil to get back on again.   You can see in this picture the ladder we used is at a challenging angle, and it got worse as the tide went out.

We decided to go to New Zealand after all and on October 26, left Vuda and Fiji for the nearly 10 day crossing to Opua, New Zealand.

BULA!!! Fiji 2014

Our 5 day crossing from Efate, Vanuatu to Vuda Point, Fiji went pretty smoothly and to plan.   We made some southing in order to have some wiggle room if the SE winds filled in too much before making it into the lagoon.     Friends, Walt and Jane LaCompte of SV Callisto, have been there for a year and were waving to us from the seaside restaurant as we motored through the channel into the marina.     Glad to finally be there, we set about getting quotes to get some work done, but were taken back by the prices (too high for our pockets) so began to come up with alternate plans to do the work ourselves or with off-site businesses and labor.    The rest of the time we got the boat ready to put in the cyclone pit for the season.   And there she sits until our return next year.

Port Vila and Tanna, Vanuatu 2014

We spent nearly a month in Port Vila.   It was the first time since Ghizo that we had actually socialized with other cruisers.     We were on a mooring but moved to the wall when Lemara offered a hefty discount to us so it would be easier for me to get on and off the boat rather than deal with the wobbly dinghy dock.    It actually wasn't all the easier, however, we did get to plug in and were right next to toilet and shower facilities.   First time being on a dock and plugged in since January of 2012 when we were at Danga Bay,  Malaysia.

Moses, Dora, Lemara and Willy will make sure you are safe and comfortable.

We decided to fly to Tanna and see the volcano, known as the Lighthouse of the Pacific.   It's a must see and the tour we took was actually pretty awesome.  Before going we saw the fire dance performed by a group of young people as part of an  Australian run NGO.

 Think safety indeed.    We were right on the edge of the volcano.    The sound was impressive to say the least as the volcano seemed to draw in air and rumble as the lava rolled, spit and fired up.   Nothing quite like it.

Back in Port Vila we awaited the weather break we needed for the 5 day trip to Fiji.    As I said, we spent a month there and finally got that break when a low traveled along the east coast of Australia pushing back the SE winds.     In the meantime we went to a charity horse race event.     With all the hoopla there were actually only about 7 horses and riders competing.

The day before we left we squeezed in an ATV ride around the island stopping at a touristy turtle feeding sight.